Relationship marketing in social media - DiVA portal

Marketing and PR in Social Media

How the utilization of Instagram builds and maintains customer relationships

Thamwika Bergstr?m & Lisa B?ckman

JMK, Department of Journalism, Media and Communication Bachelor Thesis, 15 ECTS credits Bachelor's Programme in Media and Communication (30 credits) Spring semester 2013 Supervisor: Sven Ross

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ABSTRACT

With the rise of social media and the emergence of smartphones, new possibilities have arisen for companies to create and maintain customer relations. Today, customers expect companies to be represented on social media platforms. Customers today will discuss companies and products on social media, regardless of whether the companies are represented on the platforms or not. Therefore, it is important for companies to be present on these platforms in order to be a part of the discussion. On Instagram, a company can share content that would perhaps be unfitting for any other medium. This thesis researches how the top five Interbrand companies on Instagram have worked with marketing and PR, and how their posted content affects the users' level of interaction.

Two methods of analysis have been used in the writing of this thesis. In the first one, content analysis, the content and level of interaction of 200 Instagram posts were examined. Furthermore, a survey was conducted, with the aim of investigating Instagram users' motivations for using the platform and of following a company profile on Instagram.

The material has been researched with an overall marketing and public relations perspective. Other theories that have been used concern customer relationship management, selfrepresentation and self-disclosure, back stage and front stage and word-of-mouth theories.

The results show strong indicators that different kinds of posts evoke different levels of user interaction. The companies mainly use Instagram to market their products and to share information about events and new releases. These kinds of posts mainly receive a low level of interaction, with as little as one percent of the companies' followers liking, and two in 10 000 commenting on the pictures. However, when the companies utilized Instagram's cocreative features, for example by encouraging the users to use company specific hashtags, the level of interaction increased by as much as five times. Other interesting results concern back stage sharing and how interaction affects trust in a company's message.

Keywords: Instagram, marketing, public relations, PR, customer relationships, social media, social media marketing, mobile social media, smartphone, photo sharing, in Djibouti

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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First and foremost, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Yabroad, who has given us the opportunity to conduct our thesis at your company. Thank you for letting us be a part of your wonderful company during this period and thank you for all your help and support and for providing us with everything we needed in China.

We would also like to thank our supervisor Sven Ross for your guidance and support. Thank you for taking the time to reply our endless e-mails with questions and thank you for tutoring us through Skype.

Furthermore, we would like to thank our families, especially Bo B?ckman, Per B?ckman and Micael Bergstr?m for your guidance and your dedication to our thesis. And thank you for your support and encouragement.

Last but not least, we would like to give a special thanks to Haibo Wang. Without you, this project would not have been possible.

May 2013 Thamwika Bergstr?m & Lisa B?ckman

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

5#

1.1 PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................................... 6# 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 6# 1.3 MATERIAL AND LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................... 6#

2. BACKGROUND

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2.1 THE ERA OF SMARTPHONES ....................................................................................................................... 9# 2.2 THE WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA .................................................................................................................. 10# 2.3 INSTAGRAM ............................................................................................................................................. 11#

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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3.1 MARKETING AND PR ............................................................................................................................... 13# 3.2 GRUNIG AND HUNT'S FOUR MODELS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS .................................................................. 13# 3.3 THE ERA OF INTERACTIVITY .................................................................................................................... 14# 3.4 ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ............................................................................................................ 16# 3.5 WORD-OF-MOUTH ................................................................................................................................... 18# 3.6 BACK STAGE AND FRONT STAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................ 19#

4. METHOD

22#

4.1 SELECTION OF METHOD ........................................................................................................................... 22# 4.2 CONTENT ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................ 23# 4.2.1 THE CODEBOOK ..................................................................................................................................... 23# 4.2.2 THE ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................ 23# 4.3 SURVEY ................................................................................................................................................... 24# 4.4 METHOD DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 25#

5. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

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5.1 SUMMARY OF DATA ................................................................................................................................. 27# 5.1.1 THE COMPANIES .................................................................................................................................... 27# 5.1.2 THE POSTS ............................................................................................................................................. 28# 5.1.3 THE USERS ............................................................................................................................................. 30# 5.1.4 EXPECTATIONS AND GRATIFICATIONS ..................................................................................................... 31# 5.2 THE LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT................................................................................................................... 32# 5.3 BACK STAGE SHARING ............................................................................................................................. 35# 5.3.1 BEHIND THE SCENES .............................................................................................................................. 35# 5.3.2 CELEBRITIES .......................................................................................................................................... 37# 5.4 THE POSITIVE CLIMATE ON INSTAGRAM .................................................................................................. 37# 5.5 TRUST ON INSTAGRAM ............................................................................................................................ 39#

6. CONCLUSIONS

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6.1 PROPOSAL FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ....................................................................................................... 45#

7. REFERENCES

46#

8. APPENDIX

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8.1 DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 50# 8.2 CODEBOOK .............................................................................................................................................. 51# 8.3 SURVEY ................................................................................................................................................... 54# 8.4 TABLES AND FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. 56#

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1. INTRODUCTION

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This chapter aims to give a brief introduction to the thesis, as well as to describe its main purpose. This chapter will also present the research questions and material upon which this thesis is constructed.

For many people, social networking has become a significant part of life and thanks to smartphones we are now in the era of mobile social networking. With features such as camera and GPS built into the device, even the most casual tech user can easily create their own media content. The high-speed 3G Internet and social apps give people the opportunity to share their content easily with other people.1 Studies show that 63% of the time people spend on mobile Internet is spent on using social media.2 However, people do more than just creating and sharing content on social media, it is also used to create and maintain connections. Social media helps people to stay in touch with friends and families, as well as to help discover new contacts and build communities based on shared interest, hobby, religion or political opinion, just to mention a few.3

With social media taking such a crucial part in people's lives and so many people being represented on social media, it provides an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and potential customers. This thesis will further investigate how companies can utilize social media to create and maintain customer relationships. The focus will lie on Instagram, a photo-sharing mobile app that in a short time has gained major popularity amongst private users as well as amongst companies.

1 M Peters, Why the Future of Social Is in the Palm of Your Hand, 2012-05-05

2 Nielsen, The State of Social Media: The Social Media Report, 2012 3 M Peters, op. cit.

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